Middle East & North Africa Economic Outlook Gulf set for weaker growth, North Africa to outperform The fall in oil prices has led to a sharp reversal of fortunes in the Middle East and North Africa. Fears of steep falls in output in the Gulf are overdone, but growth will weaken in the coming years... 12th February 2015 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update How the fall in oil prices will benefit North Africa We’ve written extensively in recent months about the losses the Gulf economies face in light of the plunge in oil prices. But in this Watch we explain why the North African economies of Egypt, Morocco... 13th January 2015 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Chart Pack Gulf set to resist pressure to cut oil output Comments ahead of today’s OPEC meeting, playing down calls for a cut in the cartel’s output target, suggest that the Gulf States aren’t too alarmed by the recent slide in oil prices. Indeed, Saudi... 27th November 2014 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Chart Pack Little reaction in the Gulf to fall in oil prices The slide in oil prices this month has raised concerns in some quarters that the Gulf States will need to tighten fiscal policy. But while the prospect of this has been talked about in Oman, lower oil... 30th October 2014 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Low oil prices provide relief for MENA’s resource-poor economies In contrast to the Gulf, the rest of the MENA region stands to gain from the recent fall in oil prices. That being said, a period of low oil prices alone won’t be sufficient to reduce these economies’... 23rd October 2014 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Morocco’s economy to strengthen in 2015-16 Moroccan GDP growth continued to be affected by a slump in the agricultural sector in Q2. But other parts of the economy are performing well and we still think that Morocco will be North Africa’s best... 1st October 2014 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Chart Pack Egypt's economic recovery gathers pace Having suffered following last summer’s “second revolution”, the Egyptian economy is finally starting to gather steam. Activity has been buoyed by recent political stability and the government’s Gulf... 25th September 2014 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Chart Pack Dubai's GREs slowly tackling their debt problems Over the past month Dubai’s government-related entities (GREs), which were at the heart of the Emirate’s crisis in 2009, have made further efforts to tackle their huge mountains of debt. The recovery... 28th August 2014 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Morocco: slump in agriculture doesn’t dampen positive outlook A slump in agricultural output has weighed heavily on Morocco’s economy since the start of this year. However, exports are now picking up on the back of stronger external demand while the boom in the... 26th August 2014 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Gulf’s stock market rally loses steam Equity markets in the Gulf have been among the best performers in the world over the previous year, but they’ve flat-lined during the past month. The one exception is Saudi Arabia, where the stock... 19th August 2014 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Weaker Saudi credit growth could be here to stay The past few months have brought further evidence that credit growth is coming off the boil in parts of the Gulf. As we explain in this Watch, there are reasons to think that this could prove to be... 7th August 2014 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economic Outlook North Africa getting back on its feet Three years on from the “Arab Spring” uprisings, the tide is turning in favour of the economies of North Africa. Admittedly, there are still many challenges, not least reining in large twin current... 31st July 2014 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Chart Pack Signs of recovery in North Africa Following a difficult few years, the latest data have provided further evidence that things are improving in North Africa. It looks like growth in both Tunisia and Egypt accelerated over the first... 29th July 2014 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Dubai equities on the slide The Dubai equity market has fallen sharply over the past month amid concerns that the Emirate’s real estate sector is becoming another bubble. Elsewhere, spreads on Egypt’s dollar-denominated bonds... 24th June 2014 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Chart Pack Iraq crisis raises contagion fears The unfolding crisis in Iraq has cast a shadow over the region, causing equity markets to tumble. As it happens, the largest MENA economies have only limited trade and financial ties with Iraq... 19th June 2014 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Why we’re relatively downbeat on the Saudi economy In its latest Article IV for Saudi, the IMF painted an upbeat picture of the economy. However, as we outline in this Watch, there are good reasons to think that growth may slow over the coming years. 5th June 2014 · 1 min read
